词汇提示
1.spices 香料
2.scarce 罕见的
3.trinkets 首饰
4.interior 内陆
5.crews 工作人员
6.emeralds 翡翠
7.pearls 珍珠
8.immerse 极大的
9.invaded 入侵
10.refining 提纯
11.meteorite 陨石
12.grease 油脂
13.raft 木筏
14.ceremony 仪式
15.perished 死亡
16.desperately 拼命地
原文
The Golden Man ? El Dorado
When Christopher Columbus sailed west from Spain in 1492, he was trying to reach the Spice Islands (which today are called Indonesia).
Spices were very scarce and valuable in Europe at this time.
No one knew that two vast oceans and the American continents lay between Europe and Asia.
Columbus did not find spices in America, but he did bring home some gold trinkets.
The American Indians wore these as jewelry.
Gold, not spices, was to become the biggest motive for exploration.
Expeditions into the interior of the Americas were very costly and very risky.
Only by promising the authorities huge profits could sailors and soldiers raise money for their expeditions.
They also needed to promise rich rewards in order to get followers and crews.
If a leader returned to Europe without gold and jewels, he might end up in jail.
No wonder the Spanish conquerors were always searching for gold.
At first, the Spaniards stayed around the coasts of the Caribbean Sea, but stories of gold in the interior tempted them to explore inland.
They asked the Indians where their gold jewelry came from.
The Indians would point further inland.
They said that a wealthy people lived in the high mountains that traded gold and emeralds for pearls, cotton and shells.
The Spanish Emperor had given the rights to exploit present-day Venezuela and Colombia to his German bankers in 1528.
So Germans - Dalfinger, Federmann and Hohermuth - led a series of expeditions into the jungles, grasslands and mountains.
Meanwhile, Spanish conquerors had found immense riches in gold and silver.
Hernando Cortes had captured the Kingdom of the Aztecs in Mexico in 1519.
He had sent immense treasures to Europe.
Soon after this, Francesco Pizarro began to explore the west coast of South America.
In 1531, Pizarro invaded Peru and destroyed the Kingdom of the Incas.
Pizarro melted down the gold and silver treasures of the Incas, and sent gold and silver bricks back to Spain.
The rush to find more gold became very heated.
Rumors came down from the mountains of Colombia about a golden man - el hombre Dorado.
There were stories about a king so rich that he wore gold dust instead of a coat.
Colombia was the Kingdom of the Chibchas.
They were a trading people who traded salt and emeralds for gold, cotton, pearls, and shells.
The actual gold did not come from their kingdom.
It was found in the mountain rivers, and brought to the Chibchas for refining and metalwork.
Several armies converged on Chibcha territory.
The first to arrive was the Spaniard Quesada, coming up the Magdalene River from the Caribbean.
He found the chief cities of the Chibchas and seized their gold and emeralds.
Shortly afterwards, one of Pizarro's captains arrived from Peru and Ecuador.
Then the German Federmann arrived from Venezuela.
Quesada gave the latecomers some gold and jewels to ease their disappointment.
Quesada's men also found out about the Golden Man.
High in the mountains was a lake created by a meteorite.
The Indians believes that the 'golden god' from the sky now lived at the bottom of the lake.
When a new leader of the tribe was elected, he was covered in grease, and fine gold dust was blown over his body so that he appeared to be made of gold.
He was taken out to the middle of the lake on a raft.
He would jump into the lake, and stay in the water till the gold dust was washed off.
It was considered an offering to the god.
Gold ornaments were also tossed in the lake.
Then the king and his followers would return to the shore.
This ceremony was stopped several generations before the Europeans arrived.
Many people were unwilling to believe that this was the whole story.
They began to search for a golden city hidden in the jungle.
Many explorers perished in this search.
In their search for gold, the Spanish conquerors destroyed the great Indian civilizations of America.
Towns and villages had been ruined, thousands of people killed and wonderful pieces of art melted down.
Some Indians believed that gold must be a food that Europeans desperately needed to stay alive.
In many cases, the Europeans destroyed the trading and social systems that had produced their wealth.
When we think about the great achievements of a few conquerors and explorers, we are also sad about how much death and damage they caused.
翻译
金人？埃尔多拉多
1492年克里斯托弗·哥伦布从西班牙向西航行时，他正试图到达香料群岛（今天称为印度尼西亚）。
当时，香料在欧洲非常稀少和珍贵。
没有人知道欧洲和亚洲之间有两个广阔的海洋和美洲大陆。
哥伦布在美洲没有发现香料，但他确实带回了一些金饰品。
美洲印第安人戴着这些首饰。
黄金，而不是香料，成为勘探的最大动力。
前往美洲内陆的探险费用高昂，风险很大。
只有向当局承诺巨额利润，水手和士兵才能为他们的探险筹集资金。
他们还需要承诺丰厚的奖励，以获得追随者和工作人员。
如果一个领导人返回欧洲时没有黄金和珠宝，他可能会坐牢。
难怪西班牙征服者总是在寻找黄金。
起初，西班牙人住在加勒比海沿岸，但内陆的黄金故事吸引他们探索内陆。
他们问印第安人他们的黄金首饰来自哪里。
印第安人会指向更远的内陆。
他们说，一个富人住在高山上，用黄金和翡翠换取珍珠、棉花和贝壳。
1528年，西班牙皇帝将开采当今委内瑞拉和哥伦比亚的权利授予了他的德国银行家。
因此，德国人-达尔芬格、费德曼和霍尔茅斯-带领一系列探险队进入丛林、草原和山区。
与此同时，西班牙征服者发现了大量的金银。
埃尔南多·科尔特斯于1519年占领了墨西哥的阿兹特克王国。
他把大量的财宝送到了欧洲。
不久之后，弗朗西斯科·皮萨罗开始探索南美洲西海岸。
1531年，皮萨罗入侵秘鲁，摧毁了印加王国。
皮萨罗熔化了印加人的金银财宝，并将金银砖送回西班牙。
寻找更多黄金的热潮变得非常激烈。
哥伦比亚山区传来了关于一个金人的传闻——埃尔·霍姆布雷·多拉多。
有个故事讲的是一个非常富有的国王，他穿着黄金的衣服而不是外套。
哥伦比亚是奇布查王国。
他们是一个贸易民族，用盐和翡翠换取黄金、棉花、珍珠和贝壳。
真正的黄金不是来自他们的王国。
它在山河中被发现，并被带到奇布恰斯进行精炼和金属加工。
几支军队集结在奇布查地区。
第一个到达的是西班牙人奎萨达，从加勒比海来到马格达林河。
他找到了奇布查斯的主要城市，夺取了他们的黄金和翡翠。
不久之后，皮萨罗的一名船长从秘鲁和厄瓜多尔抵达。
然后德国人费德曼从委内瑞拉抵达。
奎萨达给了迟到者一些黄金和珠宝，以缓解他们的失望。
奎萨达的人也发现了金人。
高山上有一个由陨石形成的湖。
印第安人认为，来自天空的“黄金神”现在住在湖底。
当一个新的部落首领被选出来时，他浑身沾满了油脂，细金粉被吹到他的身上，看起来像是金子做的。
他被乘木筏带到湖心。
他会跳进湖里，呆在水里，直到金尘被洗掉。
它被认为是献给上帝的礼物。
金饰也被抛入湖中。
然后国王和他的追随者将返回海岸。
这一仪式在欧洲人到来之前几代人就停止了。
许多人不愿意相信这就是故事的全部。
他们开始寻找隐藏在丛林中的金城。
许多探险家在这次搜寻中丧生。
在寻找黄金的过程中，西班牙征服者摧毁了美洲伟大的印度文明。
城镇和村庄被摧毁，成千上万的人被杀害，精美的艺术品被熔化。
一些印度人认为，黄金必须是欧洲人生存所急需的食物。
在许多情况下，欧洲人破坏了创造他们财富的贸易和社会制度。
当我们想到少数征服者和探险家的伟大成就时，我们也为他们造成的死亡和破坏感到悲伤。